Why Fathers Cry At Night

 Book 24 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 22 - 24

Why Fathers Cry At Night by Kwame Alexander

published 2023

Summary (via the book jacket)

In an intimate and non-traditional memoir, Kwame Alexander shares snapshots of a man learning how to love. He explores his difficulties as a newly wedded, twenty-two-year-old father, and the precariousness of his early marriage working in a jazz club with his second wife. 

Alexander attempts to deal with the unraveling of his marriage and the grief of his mother's passing while sharing the solace he found in learning how to perfect her famous fried chicken. With an open heart, Alexander weaves together memories of his past to try and understand his greatest love: his daughters.

My Opinion

4 stars

I'm a fan of Kwame Alexander's work so I picked this up from the library after seeing it in People Magazine.

Beautiful lyricism of tough topics, this was unflinching and at times uncomfortable, like I was seeing something intimate I wasn't meant to.  He wrote from a vulnerable place and I hope he's found peace with his loss and past.

He wrote that maybe he should've shared some of these notes about his daughters with them face-to-face and that reenforces something I felt throughout the book.  I hope he shares some royalties from this book with his ex-wives because many of his learned lessons he writes about appear to have been taught, unwillingly or not, by the women surrounding him.